Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 33
MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO FURTHER AMEND BY SENTENCE TO THE END OF THE NEXT TO
THE LAST PARAGRAPH WHICH STATES: THIS RESOLUTION SHALL EXPIRE TWO YEARS FROM ITS
EFFECTIVE DATE IN THE EVENT THAT THE $4 MILLION IN PRIVATE FUNDS HAVE NOT BEEN RAISED
PRIOR TO THAT DATE.
ON THE QUESTION
Alderman Siegel
I’m just thinking about the two years. That seems like an awfully long period of time, but I'll leave it as is.
Alderman Clemons
I’m going to support the amendment. | think it is reasonable to put in a timeframe, an expectation. It also sets
a goal which | think is a good thing. One of the pieces of legislation later tonight is establishing a performing
arts center steering committee. That committee will be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Board of
Aldermen to oversee the strategic plan, overseeing the construction, but obviously before that, coming up with
a strategic plan on how to run it and also fundraising. The mechanism for how the fundraising will take place is
there. It’s going to be through this steering committee. | support this amendment. | think it is a good
amendment.
Alderman Schoneman
| think generally speaking fundraisers are professionals. When | had those conversations with the theatres,
they had professionals on staff that raised funds. That’s their job. | think if we’re going to be raising the
money, it should be professional theatre people, professional business people who know about the theatre
business, who can hire if they need to. We will also have to think about where the money is going to sit. Are
we just collecting pledges or are we collecting funds? Then what happens if it’s not $4 million? Do we give it
back? What do we do?
Alderman Clemons
| think the city, through the steering committee or one of us as an alderman, can set up a trust account so we
can account for that type of money. As far as the makeup of the committee, we’re going to have a lot of
different professionals on there from various walks of life that have a particular interest in downtown and will
have a particular interest in making sure that this is successful. | think those are types of things that will come
to fruition and will happen just as a mechanism of the fact that they have to. As far as it being real dollars, |
would imagine it would be real dollars and not pledges.
MOTION CARRIED TO FURTHER AMEND
President McCarthy
We're back to the motion for final passage as amended. Is there further discussion?
Alderman Deane
Alderman Clemons had some good points. On an expendable trust, we just did some significant roadwork up
on Amherst Street and we got money from businesses up there. Since the utilities had some issues, we had to
pay those people interest on their money. We bonded a good portion of that project and then had to pay them
interest because of the utilities issues. There’s a little more to it, but my main question is: The authority of this
building falls under whom, if purchased?
